Focus on the growth frontier and bridge the development gap
The 15th Summer Davos Forum opened in Dalian, Liaoning Province on June 25. The forum was themed "New Frontiers for Future Growth". Participants from the political, business, social and international organizations offered suggestions and advice to stimulate new momentum for world economic development. In the dialogue on "How Will Future Growth Develop?", the guests said that the current world economy has both opportunities and challenges, and China has played an important role in promoting world economic growth.
Since the beginning of this year, the world economic recovery trend has been positive. The International Monetary Fund expects the world economic growth rate to be 3.2% in 2024, and more than 40% of the chief economists of the institutions have raised their expectations for world economic growth. However, world economic growth is still weak, and the regional development gap is still widening. In the view of Adam Tooze, director of the Center for European Studies at Columbia University, the risk of a hard landing of the economy that the international community once worried about is decreasing, and the world economy has also shown strong resilience after experiencing the impact of the epidemic, but it still faces many challenges. For example, geopolitical conflicts have undermined the world economic recovery process, energy prices in the eurozone have risen significantly, and the Federal Reserve's sharp interest rate hikes have also had far-reaching impacts. Countries around the world, especially low- and middle-income countries, have a large financing gap.
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that despite remarkable achievements in global sustainable development, there are still many challenges and barriers, which require more active participation from all parties. Governments need to strengthen dialogue with enterprises, listen to opinions from all parties, and formulate more feasible policies. More companies need to increase their acceptance of ESG principles, focus on long-term returns, and further explore green development profit models to make green development more sustainable.
Artificial intelligence has huge potential for economic growth and is also the focus of attention and discussion among the guests. Amina Mohammed said: "Science and technology, especially artificial intelligence, are crucial to the prospects for world economic growth. Artificial intelligence has huge development potential and can help us think and act more efficiently. The key is how to use artificial intelligence in a benign way and avoid its possible drawbacks. Therefore, the international community should conduct full dialogue and fully think about how to develop artificial intelligence technology and build infrastructure."
"An important challenge in developing artificial intelligence is to enable all economies, especially developing countries, to participate equally and enjoy the dividends of technological development through a reasonable international governance system. The international community needs to make more efforts to this end." Saudi Arabia's Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Ibrahim said that Saudi Arabia has taken many measures to promote the development of artificial intelligence. For example, it encourages investors to make long-term investments, allows more users to access and use artificial intelligence products, and allows platforms to provide more opportunities for global developers to participate in artificial intelligence development.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) Group Chief Executive Officer, Chan Yi-ting, talked about the important role of the capital market in world economic growth. She believes that the capital market can effectively promote economic globalization and is crucial to tapping the potential of world economic development and achieving sustainable development goals. "Electric vehicle technology is becoming more and more advanced, and its cost continues to decrease, which plays a key role in achieving green development in human society. Many electric vehicle manufacturers are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and have gained development momentum through the capital market. Therefore, in the process of achieving the 'dual carbon' goal, the capital market can play an important bridging role." Chan Yi-ting said.
In order to promote sustainable economic development, many countries have introduced a series of measures based on their own economic characteristics. Faisal Ibrahim introduced that Saudi Arabia has achieved rapid economic growth in recent years and its economic structure has been continuously optimized. Since Saudi Arabia proposed the "Vision 2030", the economic share of non-oil industries has increased significantly. Currently, more than 50% of Saudi Arabia's economic growth comes from non-oil industries. In addition, Saudi Arabia actively optimizes its population structure and promotes re-employment and skills training for the elderly to meet the challenges of an aging society. Saudi Arabia also actively carries out regional and international cooperation to promote common development among countries in the region.
Guests generally said that China is an important driving force for the sustainable growth of the world economy. Chen Yiting believes that China has brought many economic growth opportunities to the world and provided investors with investment diversity. Institutions such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can help international capital and the Chinese market to achieve better connections. He hopes that more international capital will actively invest in China and tap into China's economic development potential.
Adam Tooze pointed out that China's manufacturing industry is moving towards high-quality development and its development model is more balanced. At the same time, China is actively carrying out international cooperation to improve the structure of world economic growth. Strengthening cooperation between China and the Gulf region is a manifestation of the world economy moving towards diversification and multi-polarization, and will become an important engine of world economic growth.